c 

tvi_ 


Wiarfare  of  ^eace 

Conbocation  ^bbregsi  fap 

STo^n  ^cljolte  i^oUen 

PreSibent  of  Hafec  jfonit  College 
jflrat  ^^resbpterian  Cfjurtl) 
lake  Jforesit,  SUinofe 
^eptemker  28 
1913 
43 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

AUG  1 ^ 1915 

PRESIDENT'S  OFFICE 


THE  WARFARE  OF  PEACE 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
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University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/warfareofpeaceOOnoll 


THE  WARFARE  OF  PEACE 


Luke  iv:5.  And  he  led  him  up  and  showed 
him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  in  a moment 
of  time.  6.  And  the  devil  said  unto  him., 

To  thee  will  I give  all  this  authority^  and  the 
glory  of  them;  for  it  hath  been  delivered  unto 
me,  and  to  whomsoever  I will  I give  it.  7. 

If  thou  therefore  wilt  worship  before  me.,  it 
shall  all  be  thine.  8.  And  Jesus  answered 
and  said  unto  him,  It  is  written,  Thou  shall 
worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  him  only  shall 
thou  serve. 

Moments  of  decision  in  the  lives  of  great  men  have  a peculiar 
dramatic  interest.  The  Greek  tradition  gave  a typical  expres- 
sion to  this  interest  in  the  ancient  story  of  Hercules  at  the  cross- 
roads, summoned  one  way  by  Virtue,  lured  the  other  way  by 
Pleasure;  and  there  was  a famous  moral  lesson  for  many  centuries 
in  this  strong  man’s  choice  of  hardship  and  trial  working  out  the 
good,  rather  than  of  pleasure  and  ease  leading  to  evil. 

This  same  typical  situation  appears  in  striking  form  in  the 
accounts  we  have  of  Jesus’  preparation  for  his  ministry.  The 
episode  has  its  place  at  the  threshold  of  all  the  three  biographical 
gospels,  and  in  both  Matthew  and  Luke  it  is  treated  with  fine 
dramatic  sense,  and  with  a vivacity  that  gives  it,  through  ail  its 
deep  seriousness,  almost  a touch  of  humor.  But  the  situation  is 
fundamentally  serious,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  we  have 
here  the  most  significant  personal  decision  in  all  the  history  of 
human  kind;  for  upon  the  outcome  of  this  struggle  in  the  soul  of 
a solitary  man  in  the  wilderness  of  Judea  hung,  so  far  as  we  can 
see,  the  whole  trend  of  later  development  in  the  thought  of  men 
about  their  responsibility  toward  their  fellows.  For  surely  the 
life  and  the  teaching  that  grew  out  of  that  temptation  scene  have 
been  the  inspiration  of  the  really  constructive  movements  in  hu- 
man society  for  almost  two  thousand  years,  and  it  is  inevitable 


13] 


THE  WARFARE  OF  PEACE 


that  any  change  in  the  direction  of  that  life  must  have  made  an 
immense  difference  in  these  movements,  through  the  widening 
process  of  the  ages.  No  other  man’s  influence  in  this  respect  is 
even  remotely  to  be  compared  with  that  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

This  season  of  testing  and  of  decision  in  the  life  of  Jesus  there- 
fore has  far-reaching  historical  significance  as  well  as  great  bio- 
graphical interest.  It  furnishes  the  key  to  Jesus’  solution  of  the 
ancient  riddle  of  human  life;  and  other  solution  hath  no  man  given 
that  can  stand  the  test  of  human  experience. 

The  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  tells  us  that  Jesus  was  “tempted 
in  all  points  like  as  we  are;”  and  the  phrase  that  follows,  “yet 
without  sin,”  is  not  a mere  foregone  conclusion,  but  the  reward 
of  a great  moral  victory.  It  is  no  sham  battle,  then,  that  is  re- 
ported in  the  graphic  story  of  the  Temptation,  but  a real  struggle 
with  a terrible  adversary,  the  sort  that  Paul  and  Augustine  and 
Luther  and  Bunyan  and  you  and  I have  always  had  to  fight 
whenever  our  passion  and  our  ambition  have  gripped  us  with 
fierce  hunger  for  the  thing  that  our  conscience  and  our  faith  must 
condemn.  And  how  like  an  angel  of  light  the  adversary  can 
clothe  himself — in  what  noble  and  even  philanthropic  guise  may 
not  the  tempter  appear  as  he  lures  us  his  way!  If  you  and  I 
have  any  experience  of  life,  we  know  that  the  sophistry  of  passion 
is  a perilous  thing  for  the  strongest  and  the  wisest  to  listen  to. 

Indeed,  what  nobler  passion,  what  more  exalting  human  im- 
pulse, could  the  tempter  have  appealed  to  than  that  through 
which  the  insidious  attack  is  made  in  the  verses  of  the  text? 
If  ambition  be  an  infirmity,  it  is  the  infirmity  of  the  greatest  and 
noblest  minds.  Is  it  not  rather  a virtue  than  an  infirmity,  com- 
mended by  the  wise  to  the  youth  of  all  the  centuries  as  the  quality 
necessary  to  high  success?  Are  not  we  pedagogues  and  preachers 
always  telling  our  young  people  that  there  is  room  at  the  top, 
and  bidding  them  to  hitch  their  wagon  to  a star?  We  all  admire 
and  praise  ambition,  we  scorn  the  lack  of  it. 

Inevitably  the  temptation  of  a high  ambition  works  most 
powerfully  upon  the  greatest  minds.  The  strong  hand  fits  the 


[4] 


THE  WARFARE  OF  PEACE 


sword  of  conquest  and  the  sceptre  of  authority,  the  big  brain 
conceives  the  orderly  system  of  empire,  the  genius  for  leadership 
has  dominion  thrust  upon  it,  the  poAver  of  organization  tempered 
with  the  spirit  of  philanthropy  suggests  the  clean  efficiency  of 
a benevolent  despotism.  Is  not  this,  perhaps,  after  all,  the  ideal 
of  human  government — righteousness  and  mercy  and  peace  and 
love  personified  in  a great  monarch,  to  whom  the  whole  realm 
is  knit  in  affectionate  loyalty? 

Some  such  ideal  as  this,  Ave  may  surmise,  flashed  upon  the 
brooding  mind  of  Jesus  in  the  Avilderness,  when  he  beheld  ‘‘all 
the  kingdoms  of  the  Avorld  in  a moment  of  time,”  and  had  pre- 
sented to  his  hand  the  sceptre  of  authority  over  them.  There 
Avas  nothing  impossible  in  the  vision.  For  Jesus  had  the  quality 
of  a great  leader,  and  there  was  ready  to  his  hand,  in  the  fanati- 
cism of  the  Jews,  and  their  undying  hopes  of  world  empire,  ma- 
terial far  more  promising  than  that  out  of  which  Mohammed  in 
his  Arabian  desert  later  forged  his  mighty  SAvord  of  conquest. 
And  this  ideal  must  have  made  the  more  urgent  appeal  to  the  young 
prophet  from  Nazareth,  because  it  was  exactly  the  golden  vision 
to  Avhich  his  Avhole  people  had  looked  forward  with  eager  and  un- 
conquerable yearning  through  all  the  centuries  of  its  weary  pil- 
grimage. 

Jesus  upon  the  throne  of  David,  imposing,  upon  a world  that 
was  bleeding  from  a thousand  battles  and  weary  of  its  worn-out 
paganism,  the  authority  of  a perfect  character,  the  ideals  of  a 
mind  that  could  penetrate  the  darkest  problems  of  human  life, 
the  purity  of  a heart  that  could  see  God — what  a glorious  vision 
of  deliverance  for  the  distracted  race  of  man!  How  mightily 
must  such  a vision  move  upon  the  spirit  of  the  man  who  feels 
Avithin  himself  the  power  to  stretch  forth  his  hand  over  the  king- 
doms of  the  earth  and  transform  them  into  the  paradise  of  God! 
Could  there  be  a worthier  ambition  for  the  strongest  and  the  saint- 
liest  of  men? 

But  Jesus  sees  through  all  the  glamour  of  this  supreme  ambi- 
tion, and  to  him  it  is  only  another  lure  of  the  spirit  of  evil.  He 


5 


THE  WARFARE  OF  PEACE 


knows  that  there  is  no  permanence,  no  real  potency  for  good,  in 
the  power  that  imposes  itself  upon  a conquered  race,  in  the  au- 
thority that  seeks  to  establish  good  by  a fiat  from  above.  He 
cannot  surrender  the  deepest  convictions  and  the  highest  inspira- 
tion of  his  pure  soul  to  the  vain  old  Jewish  dream  of  a world  do- 
minion that  must  be  transitory  even  if  it  were  ever  realized. 
For  it  is  reserved  for  him  to  demonstrate  to  men  the  prophetic 
word  of  Zechariah,  “Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my 
spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts.”  It  is  not  for  him  to  choose  the 
easy  and  tempting  way  of  exploiting  his  own  power  and  wisdom 
and  the  weakness  and  ignorance  of  his  fellow-men,  but  rather  to 
choose  the  hard  and  heroic  way  of  sacrifice;  and  in  this  way  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  comes  forth  from  the  temptation  in  the  wilderness 
to  build  the  spiritual  kingdom  of  God  among  men.  That  is  the 
result  of  the  most  momentous  personal  decision  in  all  history. 
Out  of  it  grows  the  life  of  peculiar  service  which,  though  unsup- 
ported by  any  of  the  props  of  wealth  or  station  by  which  men 
usually  make  themselves  prominent,  yet  becomes  for  all  succeeding 
time  the  inspiration  of  the  best  lives  upon  earth ; out  of  it  grew  the 
sacrificial  death,  that  made  the  cross  the  eternal  symbol  of  the 
highest  faith  and  hope  and  victory. 

There  has  been,  to  be  sure,  a strange  inconsistency  in  the  atti- 
tude of  the  world  toward  the  new  ideals  established  by  Jesus. 
Wherever  the  Gospel  has  been  preached,  and  the  example  of 
Christian  living  manifested,  there  men  have  learned  more  and  more 
in  their  personal  relations  to  practice  righteousness  and  peace  and 
courtesy  and  self-giving.  But  it  has  seemed  to  be  exceedingly 
difficult  to  adapt  these  modern  Christian  principles  of  right  and 
decent  living  to  the  wider  and  more  complicated  industrial  and 
political  relations  of  men;  and  where  the  largest  existing  groups 
of  human  beings  are  involved,  in  the  settling  of  international  and 
racial  problems,  the  progress  of  civilized  methods  has  been  pain- 
fully slow.  In  the  light  of  recent  events,  it  seems  as  if  the  world 
were  still  content  to  go  blundering  on  in  the  savage  and  stupid 
way  of  Mohammed,  a way  that  has  been  definitely  out  of  date 


THE  WARFARE  OF  PEACE 


ever  since  the  coming  of  the  long-heralded  Prince  of  Peace. 

Many  good  people  seem  to  have  given  up  all  hope  of  real  better- 
ment in  this  matter,  and  to  take  it  for  granted  that  the  vision  of 
Isaiah  is  impossible  of  realization  by  mortal  man:  “Nation  shall 
not  lift  up  sword  against  nation,  neither  shall  they  learn  war  any 
more.”  And  it  must  be  confessed  that  we  have  had  a melancholy 
exhibition  during  these  past  months  of  the  apparent  impotence 
even  of  the  greatest  nations  to  impose  peace  upon  far  weaker 
nations  that  are  intoxicated  by  warlike  passion.  Did  not  the 
“concert  of  Europe,”  representing  all  the  greatest  military 
powers  of  the  world,  solemnly  forbid  war  in  the  Balkans,  and  then 
just  as  solemnly  amiounce  that  the  war  must  not  lead  to  the 
partition  of  Turkey,  and  then  in  the  face  of  accomplished  facts 
attempt  to  delimit  the  new  frontier,  only  to  be  flouted  even  in 
this  attempt  by  the  very  nation  that  was  hopelessly  beaten  in 
the  first  struggle?  What  could  go  further  to  show  that  no  human 
power  can  prevent  war  if  peoples  want  to  fight,  and  that  after  all 
the  test  of  arms  still  determines  the  fate  of  nations? 

But  if  we  look  below  the  surface  in  this  recent  orgy  of  slaughter 
and  rapine  in  the  Balkans  and  in  Macedonia,  we  shall  see  that  no 
historic  event  could  be  a clearer  proof  of  the  utter  bankruptcy 
of  war.  We  have  seen  with  our  own  eyes  the  truth  of  a striking 
saying  of  Jesus,  in  that  the  empire  established  by  the  conquering 
sword  of  Mohammed  is  actually  perishing  by  the  sword ; and  we 
have  seen  too  the  very  nations  that  were  the  instruments  of  the 
long-delayed  historic  vengeance,  showing  in  their  own  cynical  and 
selfish  savagery  what  a horrible  crop  springs  up  from  the  sowing 
of  the  dragon’s  teeth.  We  have  seen  a struggle  bearing  the  fair 
semblance  of  a “holy  war,”  pretending  to  be  instinct  with  the 
generous  spirit  of  the  Crusades,  turned  into  a bloody  travesty, 
and  ending  in  a greedy  and  murderous  quarrel  over  the  spoils. 
And  the  final  harvest  of  this  pretended  war  of  the  Cross  against 
the  Crescent  is  an  abomination  of  desolation  and  blood  and  fire 
visited  upon  the  whole  territory  of  the  struggle,  and  such  an  in- 
tensifying of  national  hatreds  and  suspicions  as  will  create  quick 


THE  WARFARE  OF  PEACE 


pretexts  for  further  aggression,  and  as  will  delay  for  many  years 
the  concord  in  which  alone  these  small  nations  can  find  safety. 
They  fancied,  these  deluded  statesmen  and  soldiers,  that  with 
military  power  they  could  conquer  for  their  peoples  what  Emperor 
William  calls  “a  place  in  the  sun;”  instead  they  have  plunged  them 
into  the  bitter  darkness,  where  there  is  wailing  and  gnashing  of 
teeth. 

The  devil  of  war  is  an  arrogant  and  self-satisfied  devil,  just 
like  the  evil  spirit  who  whispered  temptations  to  Jesus;  for  he  too 
shows  his  dupes  “all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  in  a moment  of 
time”  and  says  to  their  ambitions:  “To  you  will  I give  all  this 
authority,  and  the  glory  of  them,  for  it  hath  been  delivered  unto 
me;  and  to  whomsoever  I will  I give  it.”  But  this  devil  is  a liar, 
as  are  all  his  kind,  for  he  has  no  power  over  the  things  that  remain, 
and  the  best  fruits  he  has  to  give  are  apples  of  Sodom,  that  turn 
to  ashes  on  the  lips  of  those  who  taste. 

We  are  living  in  a time  when  the  world  is  learning,  slowly 
indeed,  but  effectively,  that  the  philosophy  of  Jesus^  life  is  not  only 
of  private  and  personal,  but  also  of  public  and  universal  appli- 
cation. The  lingering,  but  surely  dying,  cruelty  of  war  is  but 
one  illustration  of  this;  there  are  other  illustrations  in  every  de- 
partment of  our  political  and  social  and  economic  life.  We  know 
that  the  beast  of  prey  is  a picturesque  survival  of  a by-gone  age. 
There  are  still  some  splendid  specimens  of  him  at  large  in  our 
various  jungles,  but  they  are  doomed  to  extinction  by  the  fateful 
processes  of  civilization.  The  reign  of  forqe,  the  empire  of  ex- 
ploitation and  selfish  conquest,  is  still  with  us,  no  doubt,  but  only 
as  a vanishing  survival.  The  irresistible  movement  of  social 
evolution  sets  toward  the  establishment  of  the  spiritual  kingdom 
of  Jesus.  And  that  is  the  supreme  object  of  Christian  education. 

Education  is,  indeed,  the  modern,  the  civilized,  the  Christian 
method,  supplanting  ^vith  its  constructive  and  conserving  power 
the  destructive  and  wasteful  methods  of  the  past.  Everybody 
knows,  who  can  see  beneath  mere  appearances,  that  even  such 
a martial  nation  as  Germany  is  strong  not  so  much  in  her  huge 


THE  WARFARE  OF  PEACE 


armaments  as  in  her  schools  and  her  laboratories.  In  order  that 
it  may  be  modern  and  civilized  and  Christian,  education  may  not 
be  the  exclusive  prerogative  of  the  few,  fitting  them  to  prey  upon 
the  many,  but  it  must  be  open  and  democratic,  giving  fitness  to 
the  many,  that  they  may  all  together  learn  to  serve  effectively. 
This  point  is  centrally  important,  and  must  be  emphasized:  the 
purpose  of  education  is  not  power  for  conquest  and  authority, 
but  power  for  investment,  for  service,  for  sacrifice;  it  is  the  grain 
of  wheat  that  falls  into  the  earth  and  there  gives  up  its  life,  that 
bears  fruit  an  hundred-fold.  No  education  is  worthy  to  be  called 
Christian  that  does  not  lead  its  beneficiaries  in  some  way  to  such 
a decision  as  Jesus  reached  in  his  solitary  struggle  in  the  vdlderness, 
when  he  turned  his  back  definitely  upon  the  lure  of  royal  ambi- 
tions and  set  his  feet  in  the  way  that  led  to  the  Cross. 

It  is  the  natural  desire  of  people  who  have  borne  the  burden 
and  heat  of  a toilsome  day  to  desire  for  their  children  an  easier 
ascent  to  the  summits  of  attainment.  Many  parents  who  have 
gone  through  the  bitter  hardships  of  pioneering  crave  the  benefits 
of  a higher  education  for  their  sons  and  daughters,  because  they 
think  they  will  thus  secure  for  their  more  delicately  reared  off- 
spring the  ease  and  comfort  that  they  themselves  were  denied. 
And  the  progress  of  material  science  seems  to  meet  this  craving 
more  than  half  way;  for,  literally,  the  sons  of  those  who  walked 
or  jogged  and  jolted  can  now  ride  cushioned  on  air.  But  after 
all  that  is  a very  short-sighted  view  of  the  matter.  Education  is 
really  not  intended  to,  make  life  easy,  but  rather  to  prepare  people 
to  do  the  hard  things  that  otherwise  would  be  impossible.  To 
make  five  bushels  grow  where  one  grew  before,  to  give  ten  people 
decent  conditions  of  living  where  one  had  them  before,  to  lead  a 
city  or  a nation  in  ways  of  righteousness  and  peace  where  a former 
generation  was  content  to  pluck  some  brands  from  the  universal 
burning,  these  are  a few  of  the  miracles  that  are  worthy  the  Chris- 
tian ambition  of  educated  men  and  women;  and  such  miracles 
are  possible  only  to  the  educated. 

The  apologists  for  the  old  savage  and  destructive  methods  of 


THE  WARFARE  OF  PEACE 


the  past  have  always  been  eloquent  in  praising  the  educational 
value  of  war  itself,  apprehensive  lest  in  the  absence  of  the  drill 
and  struggle  and  blood-letting,  men  should  grow  flabby  and  feeble 
and  degenerate.  William  James  was  led  by  this  old  cry  to  pro- 
pose, as  “a  moral  equivalent  for  war,’’  that  during  the  regular 
military  term  of  service  all  the  young  men  of  the  nation  should 
be  drafted  to  do  the  hard  and  disagreeable  and  dangerous  tasks 
of  civilization,  in  the  mines  and  forests  and  factories,  on  rail- 
ways and  the  sea;  all  this  as  an  apprenticeship,  to  give  moral  as 
well  as  physical  bone  and  sinew  to  the  young  citizenship.  The 
idea  is  ingenious  and  suggestive,  and  if  it  could  be  carried  out  it 
would  undoubtedly  mean  a salutary  toughening  of  the  somewhat 
lax  flbre  of  the  spoiled  children  of  today.  It  would  have  the  great 
advantage,  too,  of  making  the  apprenticeship  really  productive 
and  beneficent,  whereas  the  present  activity  of  recruits  in  the 
armed  camps  of  the  world  is  altogether  wasteful.  Unfortunately 
this  is  one  of  those  Utopian  schemes  which  would  require  the  flat 
of  a despot  who  was  both  absolute  and  benevolent,  and  even  then 
it  would  probably  throw  our  whole  economic  machinery  out  of 
gear. 

After  all,  it  is  not  so  much  a question  of  making  young  people 
endure  physical  hardship  and  privation  and  peril,  though  these  may 
furnish  an  excellent  school  of  character.  The  real  question  is  how 
to  give  the  children  of  the  nation  the  intellectual  power  and  skill 
and  rectitude  that  are  urgently  demanded  by  the  intricate  social 
tasks  of  the  twentieth  century,  to  endow  them  with  the  moral 
stamina  that  cannot  be  broken  down  by  the  sophistry  of  passion, 
to  lift  them  up  to  the  spiritual  vision  that  makes  men  the  imperish- 
able heirs  of  God.  And  this  is  precisely  what  our  whole  gigantic 
system  of  popular  education  is  for;  and  when  it  falls  short  of  at- 
taining this  high  object,  it  is  just  to  that  extent  a failure. 

We  believe  that  the  Christian  school  and  college  have  an  es- 
sential part  in  this  monumental  and  yet  most  delicate  task.  For 
the  Christian  institution  of  learning  unites  in  a unique  way  the 
elements  that  make  up  the  sort  of  education  we  are  talking  about ; 


THE  WARFARE  OF  PEACE 


it  unites  the  intellectual  honesty,  the  devoted  and  fearless  search 
for  truth,  that  are  found  in  the  modern  classroom  and  laboratory, 
with  the  ideal  of  moral  purity  and  spiritual  insight  and  glad  self- 
giving, that  are  expressed  for  us  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  For  that 
reason  the  graduates  of  Christian  colleges  ought  to  be  the  best 
of  all  our  citizens,  the  most  fit  and  ready  to  show  in  their  own  lives 
and  establish  through  their  influence  the  power  and  the  beauty 
of  the  kingdom  of  God  among  men. 

The  chance  at  such  a place  of  Christian  leadership  in  human 
society  is  the  precious  privilege  and  the  solemn  obligation  coming 
to  you  young  people  who  are  just  beginning  to  work  out  the  destiny 
of  another  academic  year  at  Lake  Forest.  Like  Moses  before  the 
burning  bush,  you  are  standing  on  holy  ground;  for  the  months 
and  years  that  lie  just  before  you  glow  with  a brilliancy  of  promise 
that  you  will  never  know  again,  and  there  dwells  in  them  a power 
which,  taken  into  your  lives,  can  make  you  leaders  of  your  fellow- 
men  in  their  toilsome  journey  to  the  promised  land.  Like  Jesus 
in  the  wilderness,  you  too  will  find  the  tempter  at  your  side,  or 
rather  in  your  own  hearts,  luring  you  by  the  lying  offer  of  all  that 
is  sweet  to  your  passion  and  your  ambition.  We  must  all  suffer 
that  test  of  the  stuff  that  is  in  us,  not  once  but  many  times;  you 
remember  that  even  of  Jesus,  after  he  emerged  victorious  from  the 
solitary  struggle  in  the  wilderness,  it  is  said  that  the  tempter  de- 
parted from  him  only  “for  a season.”  But  at  one  time,  for  most 
of  us,  the  test  is  crucial,  and  that  is  the  moment  of  decision  from 
which  we  come  forth  permanently  strengthened  or  broken.  You 
students  are  at  the  age  when,  most  often,  the  crucial  test  does 
come.  May  you  be  fortified  by  the  unyielding  trust  in  God 
through  which  Jesus  triumphed  over  his  temptation.  And  may 
you  some  day  justify  the  high  purpose  of  the  Christian  institution 
with  which  you  have  identified  yourselves,  by  going  out  in  the 
strength  of  your  education  to  establish  among  men  righteousness 
and  peace  and  the  saving  love  that  shines  forth  from  the  very 
throne  of  God  through  the  person  of  Jesus,  who  was  “tempted  in 
all  points  like  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin.” 


[11 


THE  WARFARE  OF  PEACE 


And  do  not  be  deceived  in  the  purpose  of  this  higher  education. 
We  have  no  desire  to  make  things  easy  for  you;  if  we  did  that, 
we  should  doubtless  do  you  more  harm  than  good.  It  is  rather 
our  ambition  to  equip  you  for  the  hardest  work  a human  being 
can  undertake,  the  work  of  independent  thinking  that  shall  lead, 
because  of  the  Christian  spirit  within  you,  to  bravely  unselfish 
action.  We  wish  you  to  learn  to  speak  boldly  and  live  honestly 
the  truth  as  you  see  it,  without  fear  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees 
and  Herods  and  Pilates  of  your  day,  without  yielding  to  the  bland- 
ishments of  the  tempter  who  is  sure  to  find  the  most  enticing 
appeal  to  your  heart.  But  we  hope  to  teach  you  also  the  modesty 
of  true  learning,  which  sees  nothing  else  more  clearly  than  its  own 
limitations,  and  always  gives  the  other  view  the  courtesy  of  a 
respectful  hearing  and  of  honest  consideration. 

Above  all,  we  trust  that  the  influence  of  this  place  may  make 
you  always  conscious  of  the  presence  of  God;  for  it  is  a poor  and 
a starveling  soul  that  lives  without  reverence — only  the  fool  can 
say  in  his  heart  “There  is  no  God.’’  The  test  of  your  reverence 
will  be  your  loyalty,  that  virtue  by  whose  power  men  do  all  the 
good  and  high  and  heroic  things  that  illumine  human  conduct. 
As  President  Hadley  said  in  a recent  address:  “In  any  conflict 
which  is  worthy  of  the  name,  strength  counts  for  less  than  intelli- 
gence, intelligence  for  less  than  discipline,  discipline  for  less  than 
self-sacrifice;  unswerving  devotion  is  the  thing  that  counts  for 
most  of  all.”  In  your  College  life,  you  will  develop  strength  and 
intelligence  and  self-control.  God  grant  that  your  strong,  rational, 
disciplined  manhood  and  womanhood  may  be  crowned  by  the 
perfect  devotion  that  can  give  a divine  grace  and  glory  to  every 
deed  of  man. 


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